Explore Minnesota Birding Report as of June 8
In general, early to mid-June is a great time for birders to canoe through shallow prairie marshes to see an abundance of waterfowl and waterbirds, including grebes, coots, geese, swans and rails. And in mid-June, birders have an opportunity to see newly hatched trumpeter swans, called cygnets, in the marshes of central and northern Minnesota.
The following is a list of recent, significant sightings:
Bob Janssen found a TRICOLORED HERON on June 5th in the Black Rush Marsh in Lyon County. The marsh is located east of State Highway 23 along Lyon County Road 59. To view this bird, take County Road 59 one mile to the east to a minimum maintenance road running south through the marsh. The heron was about one-quarter of a mile down this road.
On June 1st, Chet Meyers reported a BURROWING OWL in Polk County. From Crookston, drive east on Highway 2 for roughly nine miles. Turn right on County Road 44 and drive another two miles. Turn left on a dirt road and continue one and a half miles. Park and walk another three-quarters of a mile, then look to the left for a large field. The bird was just east of here in the dead vegetation.
The PRAIRIE WARBLER is still being seen at Ritter Farm Park in Dakota County. From the main parking lot, walk northwest and follow the signs to the orange trail. After a couple hundred yards where the trail forks, take the horse trail up the hill to a row of conifers on the right. The bird was singing from the large deciduous trees on the left.
There is a secondhand report of a male LARK BUNTING seen in Steele County on June 3rd. It was reported as a flyby along Interstate 35 a few miles north of Owatonna, near the town of Medford.
A GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was found on June 5th by Kim Eckert at Swim Lake in Douglas County. The following day he reported a rather late RED-NECKED PHALAROPE at the Graceville Sewage Ponds in Big Stone County.
And last, a KENTUCKY WARBLER was found at Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge in Anoka County on May 31st. It was seen by Peter Getman along Pool 10 Road, roughly 25 yards north of Headquarters Road.
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"The information in this report is provided courtesy of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union and Explore Minnesota Tourism."
